


Let Me Be Your Soldier

by MissRomanceJunkie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Bucky Barnes, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Bucky Barnes, Rated For Violence, just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 08:04:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8005021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRomanceJunkie/pseuds/MissRomanceJunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It was too late for the bleeding soldier, he would have died in minutes anyway but when Tony saw him let go of his leg to stretch across the ground, reaching for a gun that lay just within reach, he called out a warning to Bucky, who turned and slammed his knife to the hilt in the side of the guy’s neck, the tip of the blade just peeking out the other side.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>That was certainly one way to solve a problem.</i>
</p><p>For MassiveSpaceWren’s tumblr prompt: “As a prompt (If you want :)) winteriron: Tony gets kidnapped/caught without the armor and Bucky saves him, looking pretty scary like the Winter Soldier, while it is not common knowledge yet that Bucky is on Tony's side. At least the bad guys are totally scared. (Does Tony know Bucky will protect him and is rather cool about it? Or is he also scared of the soldier? Or maybe the other Avengers see the Soldier going in, and while Tony knows Bucky is on his side, the others may see him as a threat?)”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Be Your Soldier

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MassiveSpaceWren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/gifts).



> This is for [MassiveSpaceWren](http://massivespacewren.tumblr.com) whose prompt fill got a little out of hand at 8,000+ words but was so much fun to write. Thanks for the awesome prompt Wren, hope you like the fic! :D
> 
> Also, Tony and Clint never retired from the Avengers after Age of Ultron and Bruce and Thor stuck around too. I just wanted everyone together, what can I say?
> 
> Enjoy! :)

“Cap, you’ve got incoming on your left,” Tony said as he swung by Natasha, pulling a couple of the robots surrounding her up into the air and smashing them together, mirroring the Hulk who seemed to be having a blast further down the road.

“Thanks Iron Man, you got any idea where they’re coming from yet?” Steve’s voice came through the comm, crystal clear.

“Not yet, FRIDAY’s on it though.”

“Clint, watch your back will you, Wanda’s fine!” Sam called out as he flew by the archer, slicing through the robot with one of his newly improved wings as it attempted to sneak up behind Clint’s nest. Because no matter what the man said, Tony only called it as he saw it, and he saw a bird in a nest shooting arrows at the robots that were attacking his adopted baby chick.

“Code names, _please_ ,” Cap said to an encore of groans. It wasn’t like the world didn’t know who they all were, even if someone did manage to hack FRIDAY.

“When you say that, all I ever hear is ‘I don’t trust your tech, Tony’,” Tony said, adding a long sigh for dramatic effect. He knew that to Steve the code names were more about order and discipline than the security of their comms, but it sure was fun to wind him up. Old habits die hard, he guessed.

“Nu-huh. I’m not falling for that one Shellhead,” Steve replied before getting back to business. “Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch is fully capable of looking after herself.”

“Besides,” Natasha added wryly, “she’s got Vision with her.”

“Our android teammate is indeed a worthy partner to have fight by your side. There is no need for worry,” Thor put in from where he was smashing up some bots that were trying to flee. Looks like it was time for another round of cat and mouse.

They’d been at this for about an hour already. The robots had come out of nowhere and the Avengers had been called straight away. Truthfully, they would have been pretty easy to deal with, if it weren’t for the sheer number of them; they were made with cheap materials so it didn’t take much to destroy one, but when you had five of them on you at once, it took a bit longer to sort them out. The team was coping though and there’d been no injuries worse than a few scrapes and bruises so far. The biggest problem was that every time they managed to thin out their ranks, the rest of the robots retreated and started attacking buildings and civilians at some other part of the city, forcing the Avengers to give chase and hunt them down, only to find that more had appeared.

Tony didn’t like it one bit, not only could FRIDAY not find anything that would give away who made them or where they were coming from now, but anyone who could create robots with this level of independent functionality would know to use better materials. It just didn’t add up.

“FRIDAY, how’s that pattern analysis coming?”

“ _Almost there, Boss._ ”

“Hurry it up, something’s hinky.”

“Did Stark just say hinky?” Sam laughed and presumably it was only because he got knocked out of the air a second later by two robots that he escaped Cap’s codename speech.

“Falcon! Hawkeye, you got him?” Steve asked as he renewed his effort to plow through the robots surrounding him on all sides, fighting to get to his friend.

“Little busy right now Cap, Tasha?”

“Same.”

“I’ve got eyes on him, I can get-” Tony started but stopped when he saw a familiar shape lingering down the side of a building. With two quick shots, the man took out two of the three robots that were gathered around Sam, who was now groaning over the comms, thank God.

Anything was better than silence when you saw a teammate go down like that.

The figure melted back into the shadows and Tony held his breath as he dispatched of the last robot near Sam with a repulsor blast to the chest, all the while waiting to see if anyone else had noticed their party crasher. No one said anything if they had and Tony didn’t have time to worry about it when he was set upon by yet another group of robots. It was times like these that he wished Rhodey was a full member of the team, it would have been good to have his best friend here with them for some additional air support but unfortunately, the Colonel had military matters to attend to this month.

Tony’s earlier thought was proved right in the next moment when the bots began to retreat again.

“Dammit,” Steve swore but Tony couldn’t spare the time to needle him about it as he looked through FRIDAY’s completed readings. “Widow, stay with Falcon. Everyone else, haul ass!”

“Cap, I know what they’re doing,” Tony said, wasting no time in getting to the point. “They’ve been leading us around this whole time, so that we end up right where they want us.”

“Which is where exactly?” Clint asked as Thor grabbed him around the waist to transport him to another rooftop.

“Here,” Tony said as they all stopped, watching as the robots landed and all entered the same building, full of unsuspecting office workers. “There’s a bomb on the roof.”

“Natasha, what does it look like back there?” Steve asked.

“All clear. Sam’s good too, just had the wind knocked out of him. A robot actually made itself useful and cushioned his fall.”

“That’s good to hear. Hulk, go see Natasha, it’s time for Dr. Banner to come back alright?” Steve said, using Natasha’s given name as it was part of the system they’d created to call Bruce back quicker.

“Hulk smash!”

“C’mon big guy,” Tony said calmly, “You’ve had your fun, now we need the Doc to check over Falcon. You know Falcon right? You like his wings.”

“Hulk let puny Bruce fix pretty birdy.”

“Good job, buddy.”

The ground shook as Hulk made his way back the way they came. Steve definitely made the right call there, not only would it do Sam good to be looked over before the medics arrived but Hulk would be a lot more likely to help destroy the building than get the civilians out safely.

“Hawkeye, I want you to-” Steve was interrupted when a blast went off nearby and more robots spilled out of the sewers.

“So that’s how they’re doing it,” Steve said as he dived into the new threat. “Vision, Witch, Thor, you guys stay out here and take care of this lot. Iron Man, Hawkeye, you’re with me. We’re going to go in there and evacuate those people. You got a time frame on that bomb Shellhead?”

“Doesn’t seem like it’s on a timer, more likely the guy controlling these robots is around here somewhere with a big red button. FRIDAY’s searching for him but until then…”

“Yeah, let’s get these people out of here.”

They all went their separate ways to do their jobs, Tony sparing a thought for his secretive friend who FRIDAY had informed him was searching the rooftops around the building. Clever, the bad guy no doubt wanted a stellar view when he set the bomb off.

“Is everyone out, Fry?” he asked when he didn’t see anyone else on the top floor.

“ _The building has been successfully evacuated, Boss. There are still people in the courtyard behind the building, however._ ”

“What the Hell are they doing there?” Tony muttered.

“ _I believe they are staying to watch the show_.”

“I am such a bad influence on your poor teenage mind.” FRIDAY remained silent as Tony took out a couple more of the sleek looking but poorly made robots as he flew his way up to the top of the four story building.

“Do not go up there Iron Man, that’s an order!” Cap’s voice rang out through the comms but there was no way Tony was going to listen and every single one of them knew it. “Bomb Disposal are five minutes away. We need to find the person with their finger on the trigger!”

“I’ve got this Cap, I was building bombs when I was seven, remember? You and Clint need to deal with the fangirls and boys that are hanging around behind the building, hoping to catch a sight of Captain America in all his glory. The other guys are busy round the front still, so it’s up to you two to get those idiots out of here.”

“You’re taking an unnecessary risk, Tony. We’ve talked about this.”

“Trust me, Cap,” Tony said, never slowing down but hoping all the same to do this with his friend’s blessing.

“Fine,” Steve said after a pause, “but the first sign of trouble, you get your ass out of there, understood?”

“Aye, Captain.”

When he got to the roof, it was empty. There was a pretty large device on the other side of the open space, sure, but no robots at all. He’d expected at least a few to be guarding the thing.

He approached the bomb slowly but the readings FRIDAY relayed to him all remained stable. His eyes saw what FRIDAY told him at the same time, the bomb was made of the same shitty materials as the robots were. This was going to be a piece of cake.

After looking over the device and checking the schematics FRIDAY was throwing up on his HUD, Tony realised he was going to have to get out of the suit to maneuver himself under the bomb to get at the wiring. Not to mention that he’d need his fingers and the small toolset he kept in a compartment of the suit to diffuse it. He checked the area one last time and when he got the all clear, he opened up the suit, making sure to grab a comm piece as well as the tools set before putting the suit on sentinel mode and walking closer to the bomb.

“C’mon, I’m Tony Stark, did they really think I wouldn’t have a crack at diffusing this offense against technology myself?” Tony asked no one in particular, bending low to see if he’d need a laser to open up the hatch.

“You could say we were counting on it,” a man’s voice, thick with a Russian accent, said calmly from behind him and Tony spun around fast, just in time to see his Iron Man armour hit with an EMP gun.

“Shit.”

“Tony!” Steve shouted in his ear, making Tony wince a little. God, he was going to catch Hell later for getting out of the suit without telling him. Whoever this guy was, he must have some shielding of some kind to hide from FRIDAY’s sensors. Tony would have to look into upgrading her again after he got out of this mess. Why they were using this old fashioned bomb if they had access to that kind of technology though, he wasn’t sure, but he’d seen enough distraction and diversion techniques in his time to take an educated guess.

“You can throw those tools over to me if you would please, Mr. Stark.” He had a normal handgun now, pointed directly at Tony’s head. Four big, muscly guys with some serious firepower and heavy body armour flanked him, along with a couple of moderately better made robots.

“So polite and yet you haven’t even introduced yourself,” Tony said, doing as he was told for now, because as polite as the guy had been, that was definitely not a request. If he could distract them for just a second, he had a boot knife Natasha had given him for his birthday that could maybe do some damage but as it was right now, all eyes were on him.

“Tony, _stall them_. We’re on our way up to you.”

Vision and Thor must have their hands full because he could hear Steve and Clint as they raced up the steps towards the roof.

The head honcho, who Tony was going to name Douchebag Prime, gestured for Douchebags one and two to cover the stairwell.

“You really think they’re going to be able to stop a pissed off Captain America and the second best Agent SHIELD has to offer?”

“Hey!” Clint panted. “No respect, I swear.”

Tony saw Douchebag’s focus shift as he listened, spotting it now that he was looking for it. He’d known Clint wouldn’t be able to help but respond.

“They can hear us,” was all Tony got out before he was hit by an EMP blast that only narrowly missed the bomb behind him. He yanked the comm out of his ear and shoved it into a pocket before Douchebag number three took a step forward, rifle held up at chest height.

“Slowly.”

Tony removed his hand at a snail’s pace, just to buy time and to generally be a dick.

The other guys had barred the roof door shut but a few loud bangs from the other side and Steve and Clint were bursting through, instantly taking on the two Douchebags that got in their way.

It didn’t take long for Tony to realise a few pretty important things:

  1. Clint was outmatched,
  2. Steve was evenly matched,
  3. Tony was an idiot for not realising Sam’s saviour wouldn’t be here if the problem was as mundane as a bomb or a knock-off robot army,



which all led him to:

  1. These guys were HYDRA, and Douchebags one through four weren’t just bench pushers on steroids, they were super soldiers.



Huh, he guessed there was another thing on that list of important things; they were so totally screwed.

There was no point calling out his realisation to his teammates because it would be hard for them to have missed it themselves, what with them being the ones on the other end of those freight train punches and all.

“That’s enough,” Douchebag Prime said and the soldiers stopped. Clint went to take advantage but was held back by Steve, who’d noticed the same thing Tony had. The head honcho was holding up a remote detonator, his finger hovering over the trigger. “This is how it’s going to work,” the guy said with a sneer, all pretences dropping, “You, Stark, are going to come with me. I have a nice lab all set up for you where you’re going to help my scientists perfect our version of the super soldier serum. The Captain and his sidekick over there are going to stand still and do nothing. You will do this or I’m going to blow this whole building, and probably a few of the surrounding ones too, sky high.”

And the prize money goes to Tony Stark who called kidnapping for five thousand!

None of them made a sound, none of them moved. Tony had met crazy, it was always there in the eyes, and this guy was a few cards short of a full deck. If Tony had to gamble, he’d say he wasn’t even working for HYDRA, he’d bet money that Douchebag Prime had left them fairly recently and started working for himself. Whether he stole the soldiers or created them himself, odds were they were completely unstable after being under the control of this guy for even a short while. Tony almost felt sorry for them, but he knew they were probably all KGB agents who volunteered for the Winter Soldier program.

Speaking of…

“How about I tell you what’s going to happen instead?” Tony started, keeping his eyes glued to this maniac’s. “You know that feeling you get when you’re being followed? You know that urge to go downstairs and just double check that you locked the door? You know when you’ve royally fucked someone over for _years_ and you start thinking ‘hey, maybe that’s going to catch me up and bite me in the ass one of these days’?”

He could see the confusion on not just Douche’s face but on Steve and Clint’s as well but he forged on.

“No, maybe you don’t know about that last one yet but those first two… If you haven’t felt those over the last few days then you really need to find another line of work because your instincts aren’t up to the job. Then again, he’s damn good at what does so maybe you really have no idea about any of it.”

Just then a shot rang through the air, followed by a scream as Douchebag Prime’s wrist gained a hole, right through the muscles and tendons that control the motor skills in your fingers. The detonator fell to the ground and all Hell broke loose.

The shot was followed by two more that went straight into the two soldiers that had stayed near their boss, one in the forehead that dropped to the ground, dead before impact, and the other in his shoulder because they were made to be fast and unlike his pal, this one had enough warning to dodge.

Tony only noticed this peripherally though as he grappled with the brains of the operation, so to speak, having tackled Douchebag Prime the second the detonator had left his hand. They wrestled for the gun as Steve and Clint resumed their own fights. The robots converged on Tony, no doubt programmed to protect their master but Tony barely felt the brush of metal on his shoulder before the offending bot was dragged away and thrown across the rooftop. His protector made quick work of the other robot off to one side, pulling the head off with his metal arm.

For just a second, he met cold grey eyes and couldn’t look away.

Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier.

Captain America’s best friend and the guy who’d been visiting Tony’s workshop in secret for the last three months to receive repairs to his arm. Tony had been glad to help, after establishing that no, Bucky wasn’t there to kill him and that under no circumstances was Steve to know Bucky had ever been at the tower. It didn’t take Tony long to realise that Bucky was Bucky now and not the Soldier, although sometimes it didn’t seem like it when he came straight to the workshop after one of his ‘eliminate HYDRA’ missions, set by Bucky himself of course. He had no more handlers, there were no more brain wipes, no more orders.

Tony would like to think they’d become good friends. Bucky would stay now, after the repairs to his arm were finished, to watch films with Tony, and when the super soldier noticed that Tony hadn’t been sleeping or eating right, he’d stay for longer. He’d spend days down in Tony’s workshop hidden away from the rest of the tower, the rest of the world, until he decided that Tony was maintaining himself to acceptable standards. That’s how he’d described it once. The words had been flat, almost mechanical, but afterwards Bucky had shaken his head and smirked at Tony, told him not to be a punk and sleep more so that he wouldn’t have to worry about him while he was out on missions.

So, Tony didn’t feel afraid exactly, as he looked into those steel eyes, empty of all emotion but determination, but it was certainly eerie when he was used to seeing them filled with so much life nowadays. He wondered what Bucky saw in Tony’s eyes as he stared back at him in return.

Unfortunately, it seemed Douchebag Prime had also dosed himself up with some cannibalised version of the serum because as soon as he got over the shock of the gunshot, the guy used Tony’s momentary distraction to get his legs under Tony, using them to propel the genius several yards clear of both him and the detonator, back towards the bomb. A hand on his shoulder pulled Tony up to standing as a gun was leveled at him once again. The soldier with a bullet lodged in his shoulder had pulled himself up to stand next to his boss, pointing his own gun at Bucky where he’d remained stood beside Tony.

Bucky had a gun trained on each man before Tony could take a breath.

“Tony!” Steve shouted from beside the doorway where he was subduing the guy that had turned Clint’s face black and blue. The archer was slumped against the wall beside the door, conscious, Tony thought, but worse for wear. There was no sign of the soldier Steve had been fighting.

“It’s alright Cap, I’m good. We’re good, just a good old fashioned stand off.” Probably not the best way to stop the worried looks Steve and Clint, now that Tony had gotten a better look at the archer, were sending him.

The soldier was pushing Steve back towards the doorway and Tony noticed his co-leader favouring his left leg a little while trying not to make it obvious. They needed to get out of here. Clint really needed medical help and Steve would sit down and get looked over if Tony had to don the armour and hold him there himself.

“We’re out numbered,” Tony muttered quietly as he watched the robot Bucky had thrown get up and make it’s way to the head honcho’s side. Tony was really starting to wish he’d gotten a name out of the guy. “Three super soldiers and a robot against you, me and Steve, who could do with some back up himself.” Tony hoped Steve had contacted the rest of their team for help but without his suit, Tony had no idea where everyone else was, and even if he could get to it, it would take more time than he had right now to get it back online.

“Kozlov doesn’t have training, only the serum. The other two are a greater threat, the robots’ threat levels are minimal.”

“To you maybe, I’m plain old ordinary outside of the suit remember.” Their opposition seemed content to wait for Tony and Bucky to make the first move. Kozlov, who Tony presumed was Douchebag Prime, had bent down to pick up the trigger once again, only to find that it had shattered as it hit the ground.

Bucky turned his head slightly, far enough for Tony to see the Soldier’s eyes looking back at him but not enough to ever lose sight of his targets. Then his lips twitched, as if he was fighting back a smile, and it reinforced Tony’s knowledge that this _wasn’t_ the Winter Soldier, just Bucky Barnes being a badass all by himself. “Nothing ordinary about you, doll,” Bucky said with a smirk, warmth bleeding into his eyes for just a moment.

The thud of metal against flesh pulled their attention back to Steve who had managed to gain the upper hand and knocked the soldier out with his shield, taking the shock arrow that Clint held out to him and zapping the guy with it, just to be sure. The last of Kozlov’s soldiers pulled out another gun and trained it on Steve, his eyes flicking between him and Bucky as Kozlov kept his own weapon aimed firmly at Tony.

When Kozlov started speaking Russian and Bucky tensed up beside him, for one heart stopping second Tony thought he was trying to activate the Winter Soldier program for real, but then the robot’s faceplate lifted up to reveal a keypad. It was the old fashioned ten number keys kind that people used to hide their money behind before bio-locks were invented. Kozlov entered a string of numbers and closed the face plate.

Steve switched between watching Kozlov and watching Bucky. He looked nervous and Tony realised that Steve was worried for him because of _Bucky_ just as much as he was these nutjobs. He tried to convey calm when he caught Steve’s eye but he doubted Cap got the message. If Tony was honest and the roles were reversed, he’d be pretty scared for Steve too right now, and he was Captain America for God’s sake, but Bucky, Bucky was in Soldier mode, and even though the actual Winter Soldier wasn’t in charge, he knew how scary Bucky must look to someone who hadn’t seen him cry buckets over The Notebook last week.

Don’t ask Tony why they’d watched that steaming pile of romantic drivel because that whole night was mostly a blur. He was pretty sure he’d been at about fifty hours without sleep by that point and had no clue how he’d managed to repair Bucky’s arm at all, beyond the fact that he was a genius and remained so even when sleep deprived.

If he was even _more_ honest with himself, Tony was fighting hard not to find Bucky’s whole demeanor extremely hot.

Then the beeping started and Tony slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, trusting Bucky to have his back.

“He armed the weapon,” Bucky said, not a question.

“He armed the weapon,” Tony repeated anyway, turning back to look at Steve.

Tony and Steve had fought together many times now and as much as they quarreled off the battlefield, on the battlefield they worked with a synchronicity that Navy Seals would envy. That’s why Tony knew exactly what Steve wanted him to do and what Steve was going to do himself.

He saw the surprise take over Steve’s face when Tony shook his head.

“Get Clint out of here,” Tony said and they stared at each other until eventually Tony glanced down at Steve’s leg. “He needs treatment, Steve.”

“I’m not leaving you alone up here,” Steve said and Bucky huffed.

“I’m not alone.”

“You can’t- you can’t trust the Soldier, Tony. I know you were raised on stories of me and Bucky, but that’s not him. Not yet anyway.”

Steve was actually doing them a favour if the nervous look that was taking over Kozlov’s face was anything to go by.

“The Soldier? The Winter Soldier?”

Tony saw an opening and dived in head first.

“Oh yeah, didn’t you know? HYDRA has it’s own personal big bad wolf going around blowing down houses and you thought yours was the one made of brick? I don’t think so, not with the way you skimp on materials anyway, even if the bots were only ever meant to be a distraction for the rest of the Avengers. I mean, they don’t even have weapons! You know, I’m not even sure why the Soldier’s wasting his time with you but then who knows what goes on in a psychopath's mind.”

“Psychopath?” Kozlov asked, his voice trembling a little and Bucky grinned like he was about to slice the guy in half and bathe in his blood. Kozlov’s eyes widened and he took a step towards the super soldier at his side, who was getting a little twitchy himself.

“Well, that is what you made him right?” Tony asked, his anger shining through a little as he tried to maintain indifference. “You stripped him of his memories, of his emotions and you created a perfect killer.”

Bucky took a step forward, putting himself in front of Tony as much as he could while still allowing him to hold eye contact with Kozlov. The other soldier moved straight away to aim both guns at Bucky and Steve looked indecisive, but then Tony saw him nod, trusting that Tony knew what he was doing even if Steve didn’t, and he made his way towards Clint. The robot made to follow Steve but stopped when Kozlov told it to.

“Leave them, it’s Stark we want and we’re going to have to work together to take _him_ down,” Kozlov waved his gun in Bucky’s direction. Tony really hoped the guy was screaming with terror inside his head because as it was, he’d gone deathly pale, the soldier beside him tensing and relaxing his hands around his own guns like he was reminding himself they were there. Tony used to do a similar thing when his life had depended on the arc reactor and the parallels almost brought a vindictive smile to his lips, happy that these morons were quaking in their boots at the thought of going up against Bucky, until he remembered that he really should get to defusing the bomb that was ticking away behind them.

“The suit?” Bucky asked under his breath, ensuring that the super soldiers’ enhanced hearing wouldn’t pick up his words from where they stood only a few feet away. Tony barely heard the question himself.

“Dead.”

“Alright then. When I move, you’re going to get yourself under the bomb and stay there. They won’t risk hitting the bomb by shooting at you. You can diffuse it?”

“With my tools, yeah. They’re over there though, on the ground near my suit.”

Bucky’s eyes flicked that way, searching. “I’ll get them to you. You ready?”

“There’s two of them, Buck. Plus that robot… Just be careful okay?”

“Don’t worry, doll. I can’t die, I haven’t asked you out on a date yet.”

Bucky winked at him before running towards the two super soldiers at full speed as Tony pushed aside his shock and dived under the bomb, chased by the thunderous sound of gunfire. Once he was safe, he turned back to see what was happening, fear filling him at the thought of Bucky fighting alone. The soldiers were locked in hand to hand combat, their guns discarded either by choice or force and the robot lay among them, motionless, a fist shaped hole through its torso.

Bucky fought like it was his sole purpose in life, his movements fluid and powerful. No energy misspent on hopeless attacks and no hits taken that could be dodged instead, the metal arm blocking the ones that couldn’t. All the time Bucky kept that grim, determined look, his eyes promising death to those that stood against him.

It wasn’t long before Bucky maneuvered himself to grab Tony’s tools, feigning a grab for one of the Iron Man gauntlets before rolling low, chucking the set towards Tony as he exited the roll to land on his feet in a crouch. Tony watched him, tool set in hand but his mind too enthralled by the sight of Bucky in all his violent glory to consider doing anything else _but_ watch. Bucky pulled a knife oh so slowly out of a sheath on his thigh, goading his enemies with a smirk while the sound of metal against leather whispered a deadly promise in their ears.

Bucky didn’t wait for them to attack, moving swiftly with precision as he broke down the super-grunt’s defenses to stab into his thigh, right through the guy’s femoral artery. Blood squirted up Bucky’s front to hit the underside of his chin as he pulled the knife out. He dodged the wild punch that came from the soldier beneath him, deflecting Kozlov’s attack easily when he tried to defend his only remaining minion. Tony could see what Bucky had meant about Kozlov’s lack of training, he couldn’t hold a candle to Bucky, super serum or not.

It was too late for the bleeding soldier, he would have died in minutes anyway but when Tony saw him let go of his leg to stretch across the ground, reaching for a gun that lay just within reach, he called out a warning to Bucky, who turned and slammed his knife to the hilt in the side of the guy’s neck, the tip of the blade just peeking out the other side.

That was certainly one way to solve a problem.

“The bomb, Tony,” Bucky ordered gruffly and it snapped Tony back into gear. He had the screws out of the panel quickly and briefly scanned over the wires before darting a look back out to the fighting soldiers. Bucky wasn’t tiring but Tony saw a blood trail behind him. He must have been hit when he ran at them, taking the focus off Tony long enough for him to get under the bomb, and was fighting through the pain of it. Tony turned back to the job at hand, the sooner he defused the bomb, the sooner he could help Bucky.

It didn’t take long but still managed to feel like forever before Tony had the right wire in between his scissors. The beeping stopped as soon as he made the cut and a cry of outrage had Tony turning back to the two men.

“How _dare you_. My plans were foolproof!”

“Your plans were childish and the execution was beyond a joke,” Tony said, slowly getting up.

“I told you to stay under there,” Bucky said.

“You should know that I don’t take orders very well. Just ask Cap.”

Bucky blocked a left hook and slammed his metal fist into Kozlov’s face, blood and no doubt teeth spewing from his mouth. He wiped it with the back of his hand and stepped back a little.

Slowly, Tony made his way towards where he’d spied one of Bucky’s guns, a Stark special and a gift Tony had given him the second month they’d known each other. Bucky made to follow Kozlov as he kept walking backwards towards the bomb but was tackled from the side by one of Kozlov’s men. Where the Hell had he come from? Tony scanned the area, spotting a knife stuck into the concrete at the edge of the roof. This must be the guy that Steve had fought first, he must have climbed his way back up the building using that knife after Cap threw him off. Tony supposed Steve could be forgiven for being too busy to check that the guy had actually gone splat.

With Bucky locked in hand to hand combat again, Tony went to pick up the gun, only to find himself hoisted off the ground by Kozlov. He’d forgotten how fast super soldiers could move. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He should never have let Kozlov get that close. Chastising himself now wasn’t going to lead anywhere productive though.

Tony saw Bucky glance their way before edging backwards and it took Tony a second to spot where he was heading. Steve, that do-gooder, had left his shield under Clint’s jacket near the doorway, just the edge of it peeking out but Tony would know that shade of red anywhere.

“You will help me Stark.” The feel of Kozlov’s breath on his face had Tony kicking his shins, jabbing his elbows into his sides until Kozlov made the mistake of dropping him. Tony pulled out Nat’s knife and swung at Kozlov, slicing deep up the side of his face as the man dodged just in time to save his neck. The warped sneer he shot Tony as a result was terrifying when combined with the rapid return of that crazy look to Kozlov’s eyes. “ _You will help me, Stark._ ”

“No, I won’t,” he said firmly but didn’t move fast enough to avoid the slap Kozlov gave him. He used Tony’s momentary daze to get the knife off him, turning it to hold against Tony’s neck.

“Get up.”

Tony did as he was ordered, standing slowly as he looked towards where he’d last seen Bucky. He’d managed to grab Steve’s shield and was using it to gain the upper hand against his opponent.

Kozlov seemed uncaring when Bucky swung the shield down to knock out, if not kill, the last of his soldiers, for real this time Tony hoped. Not that he was in a great position himself right now. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on Tony.

“I’m not going to hurt you but Tony, you and I _are_ going to leave here together.”

A sick feeling traveled up Tony’s throat at the sound of his name on Kozlov’s lips, like Tony meant something to him, like they were _friends_. The guy was clearly grasping at straws, desperation taking over as he refused to face the fact that the Winter Soldier was going to kill him dead.

“He won’t let you take me,” Tony said, voice hard as diamond as it cut through Kozlov’s delusions.

“We’ll see about that.”

Kozlov was afraid of fighting Bucky alone, he was relying on using Tony to get out of here alive and there wasn’t a damn thing Tony could do about it. He had no choice but to let Kozlov turn him around so that his back was against Kozlov’s chest, one arm wrapped around Tony’s arms and chest like a vise while the other held Tony’s own knife up against his throat.

When he tried to look down to see if Bucky’s gun was anywhere near him still, the knife dug in and Tony felt a sharp pain followed by the trickle of warm blood running down his neck.

Kozlov turned them to face Bucky who held the shield in front of him like he was preparing for heavy fire.

Tony half expected him to make a quip about having to rescue Tony now and that he should have listened to Bucky in the first place and stayed put but nothing came. Just cold, calculating eyes aimed at the knife at Tony’s throat.

His words though, when they came, were just as cold but filled with fury.

“I am going to kill you,” Bucky said darkly, like there’d never been any doubt that this would be how Kozlov’s life would end; at Bucky’s hand.

“You won’t risk him. You’re not the Soldier, your eyes are too soft when you look at him. Even now, when you’re trying to scare me, your emotions give you away. Your anger is clouding your judgment, stifling your training.”

“You are wrong, my emotions fuel me. They guide the Soldier’s hand now, as handlers have done so before. What I want, the Soldier does, because I am the Soldier and the Soldier is me. So you are wrong, and I am going to kill you.”

Tony felt Kozlov tense behind him, the knife digging deeper as a result, sending another trail of blood down his neck that he watched Bucky’s eyes follow.

“Twice. That’s how many times I’m going to make you scream before you die.”

“Soldiers are efficient,” Kozlov’s voice was rising both in pitch and volume. He reeked of fear, of pathetic desperation, but still he tried to retain a control he never had, not since Bucky had stepped foot onto this roof, not since he’d started hunting Kozlov down as part of his mission to eradicate HYDRA once and for all. “They do not kill for pleasure or revenge. You can not torture me.”

“I am Bucky Barnes and I will do whatever the Hell I like.”

Tony hadn’t noticed Bucky getting closer, if he had, maybe he’d have figured it out but as it was, when Bucky threw aside the shield and raised the gun to point at Kozlov’s head, half hidden behind Tony’s, and fired a single shot, Tony was just as surprised as Kozlov.

Bucky leaped forward after taking the shot to grab hold of the hand at Tony’s neck, preventing the knife from hurting Tony any more as the man behind him dropped to the floor, dead.

Tony let out a choked breath that he would never admit sounded very much like a sob. Before Tony could say a word though, he was pulled against a strong chest and squished until the need to breathe became dire enough that he had to stamp on Bucky’s foot to get his attention.

“Sorry,” Bucky muttered, an honest to God blush rising to his cheeks.

“You can’t be serious. You just shot that guy in the face to _save my life_ and now you’re shy because you hugged me?”

Bucky shrugged, looking down at his feet which made it easy for Tony to kiss those cherry lips he’d been dreaming about for the last three months, if not his whole life. What was a teenage boy to do when faced with such a handsome rogue whose fights against bad guys alongside Captain America were immortalised in comic books? Fantasies are what got him through boarding school but that was neither here nor there because this was _so much more_. It was the feel of Bucky’s hands gliding over his cheeks and down the sides of his neck, so careful not to cause him pain, it was the taste of his mouth as they deepened the kiss, pouring all their relief into it, pouring _themselves_ into this kiss that meant ‘thank you for living’ as much as it meant ‘you’re so stupid for almost dying’. Then, under all that, there was pure, unrestrained desire, and that was what Bucky’s whole body reflected back at Tony as they reluctantly ended the kiss. Bucky caught Tony’s lower lip between his teeth as they pulled far enough apart to see each other without crossing their eyes, their hands still wandering through hair and over skin as they drank in the sight of each other.

Tony was nowhere near done with Bucky’s sinful mouth but the sound of footsteps coming up the stairway was definitely going to put a dampener on his plans to get Bucky somewhere they could spend hours ravishing each other. There’d be talking too of course, but that kiss, along with the look in Bucky’s eyes right now as he waited until the last possible second to pull his arms away from Tony and take a step back, told Tony everything he needed to know about Bucky’s feelings for him.

Steve and Natasha spilled through the door seconds before Thor, Vision and Wanda came over the edge of the roof. Bruce must have gone off to medical with Clint and Sam, which is exactly where Steve should be too.

“Did you really just climb up those steps with a bum leg when there’s a perfectly decent Norse God with the ability to fly and two arms to carry a passenger standing right there?” Tony pointed in Thor’s direction, much to the man’s amusement.

Thor was the only one smiling though as everyone else had either their weapon or powers aimed at Bucky.

“Hate to tell you guys, but you missed the party, so why don’t you all just stand down.” Tony was looking at Steve, expecting him to be the one to crumble but he didn’t lower the shield he must have collected on his way over.

Bucky moved to step up to Tony’s side from where he’d been lurking just behind him, probably to move Tony out of the firing line if any of the Avengers decided to take a shot, the idiot. Steve twitched but it was Natasha who took a step forward.

“ ** _Stop_** ,” Natasha said in Russian, making Bucky’s lip curl. Tony made a note to self to cross Russian off his list of languages to whisper into Bucky’s ear in more intimate settings.

“He can speak English just fine Nat, knock it off,” Tony said. “Well, I mean if you can call the occasional slip into Brooklynese, English.” He’d hoped to lighten the mood but no one smiled, even Thor had his hammer resting against his shoulder now.

Bucky snorted at their attempts at intimidation. Tony wondered why he was letting him do all the talking but then he realised that it was unlikely Bucky would have had any reason to speak to anyone but Tony, FRIDAY, and the bots since his fight with Steve on the helicarrier.

At least Steve seemed to settle a little at the small sound of personality.

“I saw what happened,” Natasha said, in English this time.

“Sam had his metallic bird show us,” Vision said and Wanda pointed to the roof above the doorway where Redwing could clearly be seen. It must have been hovering nearby while they’d been fighting, sending silent video to the goggles Tony could see tucked into Natasha’s belt.

Still didn’t explain anything.

“Alright, then why doesn’t one of you explain to me why you have weapons pointing at the man who saved my life?”

“Tony,” Steve said and he sounded defeated. Tony hated it. “I tried to tell you, that’s not Bucky.”

“Look around you Tony,” Natasha added.

Tony did and saw the carnage Bucky had left in his wake.

“That one was Steve,” he pointed towards the unconscious body near the door. “C’mon guys, they were trying to blow up a building! Not to mention kidnap me! And besides, does it look like Bucky’s trying to attack any of us right now?” His mind got stuck on the unconscious soldier though as he continued to stare at it. Whatever cocktail he was injected with couldn’t have been as strong as the proper serum if he was still that out of it, unless he was faking of course. Bucky seemed to have similar thoughts and walked slowly over to the guy, his hands held up to show the Avengers he had no weapons as he made sure to give them all a wide berth.

“That’s probably not the best-” Tony started but was interrupted by the harsh sound of neck snapping, “idea,” Tony finished on a sigh.

Bucky looked at him and shrugged as he walked back over to Tony’s side, Natasha looking like she was considering stopping him. Or trying to, at least. “Had to be done,” he said quietly.

“Bucky?” Steve said, like he was only just now realising that he could speak to Bucky himself.

“Yeah, punk. Bucky. Now are we going to stay up here all day or is someone going to offer me a bandage or somethin’, ‘cos while this is gonna heal up real quick, it still hurts like a bitch,” Bucky waved a hand over his right side as he spoke and Tony quickly pushed the arm out of the way to get a better look.

“Idiot, why didn’t you tell me it was this bad.”

“Told ya, it’ll heal. I’ve had far worse, doll.”

Steve sounded like he was choking.

“Doll?! One of you needs to start explaining what’s happening here because neither of you are acting like this is your first meeting.”

Tony winced a little and Steve zeroed in on it, frowny face coming out in full force. Still better than the puppy eyes though.

“Steeeeeve, don’t look at me like that! I was helping, okay?”

“Doing what exactly?”

“Fixing me,” Bucky said simply.

Wanda and Vision had stood down when Steve had lowered his shield, the moment Bucky had called him punk. Natasha, however, only put her gun down now, lowered at her side, ready to react but not directly threatening violence herself.

“Look, Bucky came to me to fix the arm three months ago. He’s been…” Tony didn’t really know how or if he wanted to explain their encounters to his teammates.

“I’ve been healing. Tony helped me, Stevie. Not just with my arm, but with my head.”

Tony frowned at Bucky, he’d done nothing of the kind but before he could object, Bucky reached for his hand with the metal one, Tony interlocking their fingers without conscious thought.

“You did, Tony. I was a mess still, I was me, yeah, but I was so confused and then I’d get stuck in the Soldier mindset sometimes but you, you fixed me,” he repeated. “I don’t know any other way to say it.”

Bucky was looking at him like he was a wonder to be worshipped or a treasure to be cherished. No one had ever looked at him the way Bucky was right now. Tony knew his face had to be screaming his feelings out for everyone to see but he couldn’t help it. He tucked his face into Bucky’s neck to hide from them all the same, but pulled back when he felt Bucky flinch.

“Gunshot,” he said and looked down at Tony’s hand on his stomach.

“Shit! Sorry! Are we done here?” He glanced around at his team. “I think we’re done here. Everyone to the tower for pizza, my treat.”

“It’s always your treat,” Natasha said after a beat.

“That’s true, you see how well I treat you all? Lucky, that’s what you all are.”

Bucky wrapped his metal arm over Tony’s shoulder, pressing his other hand down on his wound as he guided them towards the door, leaving the Avengers to trail behind them. Steve and Natasha anyway, since the others had quicker means of travel.

They’d talk to Steve after they got some hot food in them and had shared a warm shower, if Tony got his way. Right now though, as Tony tucked himself closer into Bucky’s good side and they made their way down flight after flight of stairs, never letting each other go for a second, Tony was just happy he’d had his own dark angel watching over him today. He’d have been really pissed if he’d missed out on all the sex they were going to have, after all.

“You know Thor or Vision could have flown you down, Buck,” Steve teased from a few paces behind them.

“When you came charging up these stairs to Tony’s rescue on an injured leg? Hell no, I’m not giving you those kind of bragging rights, punk.”

The two kept up their banter and Tony would usually join in with that kind of thing but it was soothing, hearing Bucky so relaxed. He hadn’t seen this side of him before, the side that grew up watching out for a skinny Steve Rogers.

Bucky grew quieter though and eventually Steve let silence take over, not wanting to push Bucky too far, Tony imagined.

Tony turned his head to place a kiss on Bucky’s chin. “Thanks for saving me,” Tony said sweetly, honestly.

“I was just returning the favour,” Bucky said, nuzzling into Tony’s hair before kissing his forehead. “You never gave me an answer by the way,” Bucky added when they were down to the last few steps.

Tony didn’t even try to play dumb.

“Not that you actually asked me, but I thought the answer has been pretty obvious for a while to be honest with you, Buck.”

Tony felt the smile against his hair and smiled himself, feeling it in a way he didn’t very often. It didn’t even bother him that he was going to have to let Bucky plan the date, since he’d been the one to do the asking.

“So, you’re the Soldier huh? What happened to making Kozlov scream for marring my beautiful skin?”

“That’s not what I said and I needed to distract him while I got closer. Had to make sure I could grab the knife.”

“Your eyes said it.”

“I’m an assassin, my eyes say you’re dead and you are ridiculous.”

“Your eyes say I’m ridiculous? Well just you see if I stare endlessly into them now.”

“Is that what you were doing while I was saving your ass? Staring longingly into my eyes?” Bucky asked, leaning around a little to bat his eyelashes at Tony, who giggled, much to his horror. “Now that may just be the cutest sound I ever heard.”

“Shuddup.”

“Nope,” Bucky had the nerve to pop the ‘p’ and everything.

“Idiot.”

“Genius,” Bucky smirked and mock saluted like he was really saying General.

“Soldier.”

“Your Soldier.”

Tony stopped still just outside the doorway to the building, Steve walking past them and heading towards one of the paramedics, his leg must have been worse than Tony had thought. Over to their right, he saw Thor bringing his suit down carefully to the ground and realised he hadn’t even thought about the armour when he’d left the rooftop with Bucky.

“My Soldier,” Tony agreed, leading his Soldier over to the ambulance that had a smattering of civilians hanging around it.

“Hey, Tony?”

“Yes, Buttercup?” Tony asked, grinning as that blush made another appearance.

“Don’t scare me like that again, okay?” Bucky asked, his metal fist grinding a little at how tight he was clenching it where it rested on Tony’s shoulder.

“You know I can’t make any promises,” Tony frowned, hoping this wouldn’t become an issue as it had done before with Pepper. He was Iron Man, he couldn’t and wouldn’t give that up for anything, not even Bucky.

“Okay. Alright. I’ll always be around to save you then,” Bucky said simply, the same way he’d told Kozlov he was going to kill him, like it was a forgone conclusion that Bucky would always be by Tony’s side, ready to defend him.

“Does that make me your personal Commander-in-Chief or am I Whitney in The Bodyguard?” Tony joked as a paramedic ushered Bucky up onto the bed and another tried to get a look at Tony’s neck.

“Neither, you don’t have the legs or the voice to be Whitney I’m afraid,” and that was yet another film Tony had no idea how they ended up watching, “but you can be my Iron Man,” Bucky said, eyes full of hope and sincerity.

“I think, I think I’d like that,” Tony said quietly and took hold of Bucky’s hand as the paramedics got to work.

“Good.”

“Good.”

They smiled dopily at each other, ignoring the onlooking Avengers and puzzled civilians completely.

Yeah, Tony liked that a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are love, so let me know what you thought! :)
> 
> You can also find me over on [tumblr](http://missromancejunkie.tumblr.com) where I take winteriron, stony, stucky and stuckony prompts.


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